Real World
by TFKeyes
Summary: Matsumoto and Tenaka have gotten their people but they need to get them orginised. A continuation of my previous works Marine and Marine II Enjoy and review please. Hollow Justice. I don't own BLEACH darnit
1. Chapter 1

Hi again Folks. I'm back with a smile and hopefully a bit of humor to lighten the ending of the last installment. Bleach is not owned by me, I wish, that way I would be able to push some ……. I ramble. On with the show!

**Housekeeping 101**

Now the fun began. What do you do with one hundred and sixty warriors who live to fight and need to integrate into the local populous? How do you teach them to hold a job that is to be their cover while they are there? More importantly, what sort of job could these warriors actually even attempt to hold? And then there was the pairing up of the men and women.

Kira was pulling his hair out as he tried to figure out how to get these different groups to start working together as a team.

Ikkaku Madarame stuck his head in the window and yelled, "Hey Matsumoto! We got some sake here wann'a have a snort?" It was obvious that he had already imbibed a bit.

Kira reached out the window grabbing the tipsy shinigami by the robes and hauled him in through the window. He held him off the floor before speaking softly. "One, her name is Captain **Tenaka**. Two, she is working. Three, She isn't here." He then deposited Ikkaku on the floor by dropping him.

Kira started to turn back to his desk when a thought hit him. He turned to the slightly shaken Ikkaku, "Weren't you in high school when you were stationed dirt side a few years ago?"

"Yeah, what of it? I felt like a moron there. All that stuff that didn't mean a damn compared to what I was doing." His response was suspicious as he waited for his Vice Captain to finish his thoughts.

"Ikkaku, when you were there did you ever hear of a 'Sadie Hawkens' Dance?" Kira asked with the makings of a grin on his face.

"Um, no, I can't say as I did. I wasn't real interested in social events back then. What is it?" Ikkaku was now beginning to feel really uncomfortable.

Kira just glanced back at him and smiled. "Have the troops in the training area at 1900 hours tonight. No excuses for anyone to miss the muster tonight. If they miss it they are going to regret it for a long time. I also want you to take this list over to Fourth and give it to Captain Unohana please with my sincere thanks if she could supply the items I put on this list." He turned and scribbled down a list of items then folded it and handed it to Ikkaku. "It's thirteen hundred now so get moving I want everything set up by nineteen hundred."

Ikkaku just shrugged his shoulders. "You're the boss." He left on his errand.

Rangiku walked in as Ikkaku was leaving and cocked an eyebrow at her husband. "Where was he headed in such a hurry? Are you up to something?"

"I think I just figured out how to pair off our people. Well, I hope that I have."

She eyed him narrowly. "What are you planning?"

"Just a little icebreaker." He answered innocently.

"I hope this isn't another one of those crazy human ideas you are so fond of."

"What do you mean, crazy. My last 'crazy' idea you liked well enough, or were those moans of displeasure I heard from you? All night." His grin was plastered from ear to ear.

Rangiku blushed like a schoolgirl before answering. "That had nothing to do with the Fourteenth and you know it. Let's try that again, soon." She put on her most seductive look.

"Anything for my Captain. But before we get carried away I think that I have a plan …."

He explained his plan to her and made a few modifications at her suggestion.

**1900 Hours (7PM):**

All of the Fourteenth members were gathered into the training area. They were formed into two separate groups, men on one side and women on the other.

Unohana had come through with time to spare with the supplies requested transforming the training area into an open air dance. The ceremonial band had set up on a stage and were warming up as Kira talked to the band leader.

He concluded his discussions with the band leader and then turned to the assembled shinigami. "I bet you all are wondering what's going on. Well tonight is the night that the team partners will be chosen. Rather than letting you wait for us to figure out who to put with whom, I think that this will work out much faster and be much more fun for all of you. Yes even you FORMER Sixth and Second squad members." He paused to gauge their reaction so far. He saw a bit of confusion so he continued. "This is what is called a 'Sadie Hawkens' Dance. The rules here are that the women may ask any man they want out on the floor to dance with them. The men may not refuse. If you don't click then no harm done and it keeps on going until everyone has a partner for three consecutive dances. At the end of the night I would like to think that everyone here could find a partner. This isn't a marriage it is finding a partner that you can trust and work with. As an added bonus, food and drinks are provided. DO NOT GET DRUNK! Enjoy the evening and have some fun tonight." He turned to leave then turned back before the band started. "Oh, I almost forgot. No one from the same former squad can pair with each other and also your former Captains will be dropping by to enjoy the evening also. Carry on!" Kira then left the stage.

The Band struck up a tune that most of the shinigami were unfamiliar with but they had gotten the hint as to what they were to do tonight. The women started looking over the men and talking amongst themselves. The men looked distinctly uncomfortable as they were being sized up by the women. Some of the men went and got a drink almost immediately to steady their nerves. This was something that the feudal mind set of most of the men were not accustomed to. They were supposed to be in charge and they were to be the ones making any advances, not the other way around.

Ikkaku started laughing as he finally guessed at what Kira had been planning when he had questioned him that afternoon. _"This should break a few spirits"_ He thought to himself. Then it struck him also. _"Wait a minute. I'm included in this too!"_ He sweat dropped._" I hope that one of the girls from the fourth asks me out, or maybe one of those cuties from the academy."_ He composed himself and put on an air of competence and composure. He was rewarded by several medics and students approaching him. His night was going very well in his opinion as he found a nice looking young woman named Fumico who was a graduate student in the medical arts before she volunteered for the Fourteenth. She stood just shy one hundred and eighty centimeters tall and carried herself well. After several dances together they took a break and visited with Rangiku and Kira who were just watching from the sidelines.

"You know that this was a dirty trick to play on everyone." Ikkaku said confidentially to Kira.

"Yeah, but I don't think that anyone will be too upset. Look at the smiles on the faces. And did you see the looks on the 'nobels' faces? I don't think that they thought that they would ever get to do anything like this. All of them look like they are having fun. My concern is the ninjas and the scientists. Those two groups are the hardest to crack out of their shells."

"What about my former shinigami?" came the voice of Soi Fong from just behind Kira. "Are they not doing something that they should be doing?"

"Oh it's nothing Captain. It's just hard for them to relax after you trained them to such ridged control. I'm sure that once they have a few drinks they will loosen up a bit." Kira remarked as he fought to keep the shivers from showing at her creepy arrival.

"I see." She said thinking to her self for a moment. "Maybe I should try and 'loosen' them up a bit." She said simply then disappeared as fast as she had arrived.

A few minutes later he spotted her out on the dance floor with several of the men from her squad and was actually smiling and looking like she was having fun. This did help break down some of their stiffness and they finally became approachable.

Several of the other Captains also showed up and spent time assisting in getting the shinigami to enjoy themselves. Shunsui Kyōraku and Nanao Ise showed up. Shunsui dragged Nanao out on the dance floor to a tango and impressed everyone and made Nanao blush as she had never done before. She was quite breathless after the intimate dance and fanned herself repeatedly afterwards.

Kenpachi Zaraki and Yachiru Kusajishi put in an appearance but had to leave quickly as it was Yachiru's bed time when they got there. Kenpachi glared at a couple of former shinigami from his squad and reminded them that the Eleventh "don't have no weaklings" He then departed but his words did not fall on deaf ears.

By the end of the night everyone was partnered and many were sitting at tables talking about themselves and doing a good job of getting to know each other.

As the band wound down from their last tune Rangiku took the stage. "Well it looks like tonight was a success and now begins the second part of your training. Up until now you have lived in barracks and have been separated men from women. Tonight that all changes. Each pair of partners will from now on be living in an apartment together. I don't expect you to be sleeping together but I expect you to be civil with each other. I'm sure that there will be some kinks to iron out so don't get too worried if you get on each others nerves at first. It's normal when you get thrown together for the first time. Pick up your apartment assignments on your way out and stay with your partner. The barracks are closed as of now." Outside the training area was heard "Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi" With that the two barracks buildings crumbled to the ground in a flurry of pink looking petals.

The look on the faces of the shinigami was priceless.

**A/N: Thus begins the formation of the Fourteenth Expeditionary Squad.**

**Like it or hate it, drop me a line. I thrive on ideas.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Buisness Plan**

Kira stepped out of the shower reaching for a towel to dry off. All of them happened to be the large fluffy ones that his wife purchased down in the real world, and every one of them was pink. He sighed to himself. '_What a way for a Marine to be, drying off with a pink towel.'_ He stopped to look at himself in the mirror and saw the scars that had been inflicted on his body since coming to Soul Society. He rubbed the one that he first received, the one that Rangiku had inflicted upon him on his first day in Soul Society.

She was so beautiful in her anger that he had let down his guard for just a split second to gawk at her. Then he felt the boken piercing his abdomen. Reflexes had taken over then disarming her and putting the flat of the boken to her neck pushing her forcibly into the wall surrounding Seireitei. The impact had knocked the Vice Captain out momentarily. As he had faded into unconsciousness, his last coherent thought that day had been a prayer that she was ok.

He had seen wounds like this before and knew how deadly they could be. He had seen strong men whimpering like children as they bled out. But here the medics could work miracles unlike the corpsmen that had been in his old unit while he was alive, not that they were any less heroic in their duties. In the real world most fighting was now done at distance so you hardly got to see the face of your enemy, but here it was a different story. Almost everything was very up close and personal, and every bit as deadly. He shuddered as he reflected on the brutality of his work, but knew that if he didn't do it then people would die. Long ago he had made a decision to stand ready to protect those who could not or would not protect themselves.

He looked at his left arm in the mirror and saw that his one and only tattoo had a neatly bisecting scar between the two lines of script. "Semper Fi, Do or Die". He had done both already and was prepared to do it again if called upon.

He felt the stirrings of his wife as she woke up and was slowly getting her act together in the bedroom. He wrapped the pink towel around his waist and went to help her rouse herself. He didn't play fair when waking her up either.

Rangiku's first sensation besides warmth was that her lips were being gently assaulted as rough hands started making their war from her face down to her neck then roaming further. She melted as she recognized the scent and taste of her husband without even opening her eyes. She put her arms around him dragging him down on top of her. Then she started sharply as he started to tickle her mercilessly. She screamed in mirth as he relentlessly attacked her every weak point making her buck and writhe in futile attempts to get away. She had positioned him in control by pulling him on to her now she was trapped, not that she minded so much.

After a few minutes of this he relented and kissed her deeply before saying "Good morning my Captain. Now get up and get yourself together because we have a lot of work to do with those miscreants we have for a squad." He was leering at her in a most un-Vice Captain like way as he said this.

She responded by wrapping her long legs around him and reversing their position quickly and kissing him before she quickly disengaged herself. "Vice Captain Tenaka, what is the meaning of assaulting your superior officer when she is in bed?" She said with mock indignation.

He snickerd out loud, "Just testin' the Captains reflexes, my goddess. I must say that your reactions are very tip top and lively too."

She turned with feigned indignation for the bathroom and said over her shoulder. "Wait until tonight and I'll show you lively." With that she closed the bathroom door leaving him to laugh and dress himself.

One hour later they were pouring over the results of their little party and what sort of matches had been made between the new recruits. Kira was amazed at a couple of the names next to each other and wondered how these people could ever get along. Especially the one pair of tenth seat Fumico from the fourth and third seat Ikkaku from the eleventh. This almost looked like a match made in hell to him. He recalled how Ikkaku had sneered at members of the fourth before. He pulled out their files and looked them over closely before stumbling on the fact that Fumico had been the one to heal Ikkaku on several occasions. _"I guess that she had taken a liking to him a while ago."_ He also noted that several of the nobles had paired with students. He was worried that these pairings might have some adverse consequences. He was trying to think of a way to avoid the women of the squad from becoming nothing more than servants.

He pulled all of the women's files and had a stack piled on the desk as Rangiku walked in and noted what he was reading. "Looking for a new wife?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

He closed the file he was reading and leaned back. "Why would I go for hamburger when I have sirloin on my plate?" he dead panned. "No, I'm trying to determine what rolls these females are to play here. I don't want them to end up becoming nothing more than maids for some of the more arrogant shinigami. I see that many of them are skilled fighters but many are untried in battle and a lot, no, all of the students that volunteered have absolutely zero combat proficiency. How do we get them some training?"

"Well we could start by bringing everyone up to speed on what our real mission is to be and let that sink into their heads for a while. Our other problem incase you have forgotten is what to employ them at when they are not hollow hunting. Nothing is more dangerous than a bored shinigami, other than an arrancar. We can't just leave them in place for months at a time with nothing to do besides hunt hollows. Eventually they will start acting like Kenpachi and go looking for a fight. We need something to occupy their time." She observed.

"Well, what about opening dojos in each of the towns that they set up in? I know that it kept my mind off the boredom, and I felt like I was improving the lives of some of those kids. I know that some of the shinigami are not exactly suited to teaching kids martial arts but at least one of the partners should be capable. On another note did you see Ikkaku and Fumico? She was radiating pure reiatsu in an almost murderous way if any of the other females even came close to Ikkaku. It was almost like she had staked out her claim in advance. I think that boy is in trouble." He smirked.

"What about that sixth woman that latched onto the guy from the second, what were their names?" She thought for a moment then snapped her fingers. "Mihane Shirogane and Yanada something or another. They look like a couple of school teachers."

"Yeah, they didn't exactly look like the ferocious duo." He grinned. "Now back to the issues at hand. What about my suggestion?"

"It has merit and I know how you looked forward to going and teaching those children. But honestly, can you see children being taught by Ikkaku? They'd be blood thirsty monsters by the time he got through with them. Many of these shinigami have only stood guard duty since they became shinigami." She said on a down note.

Kira looked glum for a moment then his face began to change. He grabbed a pad of paper and began writing in English because his brain was still wired that way. Rangiku looked over his shoulder in curiosity wondering what got into his head. Kira sat there scribbling down notes and thoughts for an hour before he decided to share his brainstorm.

"Ran, you remember what you said about these shinigami having mostly stood guard duty? What if we set up a business that employed our shinigami as security guards? No big jobs where a lot of them would have to be on station for long, but spread over the entire area supplying a service to the local businesses. We collect payment for services rendered and use that to pay our resident shinigami while they are deployed. We can't use Soul Society money in the real world but if we set up a business providing protection to the businesses in the area then we don't need to depend on anything else. We have the muscle and the technical support as well as our own medical staff. We also have a permanent presence in Karakura with Ichigo and Rukia as well as Nemu now also" He rambled on for about another hour before finally running out of things to promote his idea.

Rangiku sat up from her couch then walked over to him and kissed him. "I'll present this to Yamamoto in the morning. Better yet You are going to present it. I just have one question. Where are we going to get the money to start this enterprise?"

"I told you we have technical support didn't I? Do you remember how cranky Nemu got when she could only put two hundred songs on that mp3 player she got for Christmas?" He asked in a leading manner.

"Yeah, and what does that have to do with my question?" Rangiku was confused now.

"I asked her the following day what she ended up putting on her player and she showed me. She had rewritten the code of the player on her own and used a new compression format that I have never seen. She had stuffed over a thousand songs into a small player that would only hold two hundred before. We send her a message and we talk to her about patenting the process and then selling it to someone like SOMY or TOSHINA Better yet license the patent and create a steady stream of income to fund the project. Of course Nemu and Mizuiro should receive the majority of the licensing fees, but there should be more than enough to jump start the Shinigami Security Service." He finished with a grin.

The following morning Yamamoto listened to Kira presenting his idea. The old shinigami listened very intently as each point was presented and asked pertinent questions along the way. At the end of the presentation Yamamoto looked at Kira with half closed eyes gauging the young shinigami. "Boy, you have been here for almost one year. You have turned the paperwork nightmare here into a smooth operation. You have achieved both Shikai and Bankai in a period of time that is beyond remarkable. You have become a Vice Captain of a newly formed squad. Now you bring this plan before me."

Kira was waiting to hear the "BUT".

"I'm impressed with you and your plan. You have found a way to fund it and support your shinigami at the same time. You have balanced the squad for long term deployments and have the full support of not only one Captain but two Captains. Now you have the support of Three Captains. I shall take your proposal to Central 46 with my strongest endorsement. Thank you my boy." He paused for a moment then dismissed them. "You can come out now Yoruichi Shihouin. I guess that you heard the entire conversation?"

Yoruichi strolled out of the shadows (in human form), "Yes Yama-jii I heard the whole thing. We can learn much from these young ones. Kira has proven himself several times over as has Kurosaki. They have fresh ideas that can give us advantages."

"I'm glad you agree. Then I can count on your support with Central 46." He asked as more of a statement.

"Yes Captain General, you have my full support. I just wonder how far those young ones will go." She finished with one of her trademark grins.

The following day in the headquarters of the Fourteenth squad Kira and Rangiku were waiting on the summons to go to First Squad and learn the fate of their plan. The door opened and Yamamoto walked in with two people behind him that were not dressed like shinigami.

"The plan has been approved by Central 46 with one minor addition. They want you to have someone that knows the laws of the real world. We searched the records of recently deceased and found you a pair of lawyers that had been involved in a fatal auto accident. They were honest lawyers as they weren't sent to hell. We brought them here to offer them the opportunity to join your squad in a support roll as legal council so that you don't run afoul of any laws in the real world. Let me introduce Hero Takamishi and Mira Takamishi formerly of Rukongai." With that Yamamoto turned and left.

Kira was dumfounded because he had completely forgotten the fact that there was so much paperwork involved in setting up a business. He shook his head slightly before holding out his hand to the pair. "Welcome to the Fourteenth Squad. My name is Kira Tenaka and this is one of the Captains of the squad and my wife Rangiku Tenaka. Please come in and sit down." He called out to their orderly to have some tea brought in as he and Rangiku sat on one side of the planning table and the lawyers sat on the other side. "Why don't we start with what you used to practice down in the real world." He started.

Rangiku, not having any experience with lawyers, just sat and observed after shaking both of their hands and minor pleasantries. She listened as Kira asked pointed questions of the pair about what sort of law they had practiced when they were alive.

As he laid out the plans for the formation of the business the questions started to go the other way. The lawyers asked for clarification on some points before they had a good idea of what they needed to do to put together the proper paperwork for, one: The patent for Nemu, and two: The formation of the company with Nemu as majority holder of the company. She couldn't just donate the money to the Fourteenth because she was now a permanent resident in the real world as was her husband. This worked out in their favor because the income from the patent and then from the business would have a place to go so that the tax authorities wouldn't start snooping around.

The planning session devoured the day and several of the next few days leaving Kira wound up tight. He needed some way of releasing his tension. Ikkaku watched him that morning and could see that the Vice Captain needed to blow off some steam.

"Yo, Kira, Get your lazy butt out here and show me what you got!" He unsheathed his zanpakutō and just grinned at his Vice Captain. He knew that Kira would take the challenge as disrespect and he might even have to have Fumico fix him up when all was said and done.

Kira bristled at the tone of Ikkaku's voice and pulled his own zanpakutō then flashed to attack to teach the loud mouth a lesson that he would never forget.

**A/N Thank you for the reviews to date and I hope that there are more. Suggestions for plot are also welcomed. Hell even a flame or two won't make me pull out my zanpakuto.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Making Peace**

Soi Fon was shaking she was so mad. "Why did they create a fourteenth squad to monitor the real world!" she asked no one. "Wasn't my Secret Mobil Corps sufficient for the job?" She had to surrender ten of her best ninjas to transfer to this 'make shift' squad and relinquish authority over them. That didn't bother her as much as the loss of the real world monitoring duties they performed. Her pride was hurt and that was something Soi Fon would not tolerate.

She was currently stomping along the path that led to the headquarters of the fourteenth squad with a stack of reports that she had been ordered to deliver in person by Yamamoto. The intention was that she would take the time to explain what her squad was up to in the real world and any trends that they had spotted. The reality of what was about to happen could have been foreseen but for some reason Yamamoto chose to ignore it.

She slammed the door open to the captains office and strode up to Rangiku's desk. She unceremoniously dumped the stack of loose paper on it covering the desk with reports. She then turned on her heel to leave only to be facing Kira with an irritated look on his face.

"Pleasure to see you Captain Fon, mind if I ask what do we owe the pleasure?" The word 'pleasure' came out strained and rather snide.

"Step aside 'boy'." She said with as much venom as one could imagine.

Kira didn't move or even flinch at her words. "Why don't you tell us why you are here and stop acting like a spoiled little snot. I'm sure that there is a reason."

Soi Fon reacted by lashing out with her back hand only to have that hand caught inches away from her target by Kira. "How dare you touch me you insolent bastard! Are you challenging me?"

"Seems to me that you were about to touch me first. What's your problem?"

"The only problem here is yours and I intend to rectify that situation now!" She started to draw her zanpakutō when Rangiku slapped her hand onto Soi Fon's.

"Just what do you think that you are doing?" Rangiku asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm about to instill a little discipline in your vice captain, unless you would like to take his place." Snarled Soi Fon.

Rangiku was a bit shocked at Soi Fon's anger but had enough sense to not take her up on the challenge. "No I'm sure that Vice Captain Tenaka can take care of himself without me having to intervene on his behalf. Seeing that you are the one issuing the challenge, I look forward to watching."

"Fine," she turned to Kira, "The open field at the execution grounds. Five minuets." With that she was gone.

"Is she serious? I didn't expect to be fighting someone from our side, ever." Kira said with a shocked expression.

"Some advice, Don't let her size fool you. She's very fast. I only know of three that can beat her speed and you're not one of them. Go for Bankai immediately and don't let her get in close. Now let's get going." Rangiku said with a solemn face.

When they got to the execution grounds they found Soi Fon waiting for them. "I was waiting, what took you so long 'boy'?" She taunted.

"I'll ask you one last time to calm down and tell us what's eating at you. I don't want to fight you but if I have to….. You get the picture." Kira said in a calm tone laced with strength.

"Time has passed, defend yourself 'boy'" Soi Fon disappeared from sight.

Kira knowing that he couldn't match her flash step ducked then flashed to the right avoiding a harsh slash by inches. His own zanpakutō was still sheathed but his awareness of her movements allowed him to see her movements even if he couldn't match them in speed.

He dodged in short hops keeping his distance, stopping short on several occasions all the time mixing up the distance and direction to keep her off from him. Finally seeing that she meant business he drew Tekken and called forth the shikai and created a curtain of electrical discharges that trailed behind him. He changed patterns encircling Soi Fon within the pattern.

She stopped and faced where he finally stopped. "So you like to play with lightning, Humm? Two can play at that game 'boy'." She started to raise her reiatsu drawing a whirl of power that started to discharge like Kira's shikai.

He felt the level rising and sighed before raising his own reiatsu. He wished that it hadn't gotten to this point, but what was done was done and he needed to protect himself. "Bankai" The reiatsu armor formed creating a mirror finish and the zanpakutō shimmered becoming the two handed double edged blade. Lightning discharges ran along the edges from the hilt down to the tip of the blade. He swung the blade in an arc before settling it down facing Soi Fon and waiting for her to unleash the power she was amassing.

Seeing the discharges of raw power that Kira was giving off as he stood there waiting for her she almost smiled. _"The boy has some guts." _Then she triggered the destruction. "SHUNKO!"

Kira watched the approaching tidal wave of destruction and called out to Tekken "Swallow that blast Tekken. We can't let anyone else get hurt by it." The wave of lightning engulfed Tekken and Kira seeming to make the spot he was standing in look like a miniature sun had bloomed. The light slowly died away revealing Kira standing with Tekken held pointing up at the sky. He discharged the entire blast that they had taken directly overhead where it impacted the shield of anti spirit energy surrounding the Court of Pure Souls. The lightning clawed it's way around the surface in all directions before connecting with the walls and grounding out.

Soi Fon just looked on with open mouth at the fact that her strongest attack had been absorbed and redirected with no harm to the intended target. "How did you do that?"

"Captain Soi Fon, I'd be happy to tell you but can we call off this insane fight that won't solve what's bugging you. There must be something that either we or someone has done that pissed you off to the point of wonton destruction." Kira said making a last ditch attempt to calm the second squad captain.

"Your squad has taken over all surveillance in the real world! That was Secret Mobil Corps' job and I had to turn it all over to you. That's what pissed me off!" She snapped at him.

"Soi Fon, do you know why we were created? It wasn't to steal jobs from the pro's like you. It was to augment you. Your squad has been spending a tremendous amount of time in Heuco Mondo spying on the arrancar and keeping tabs on their activities. How much time does that leave for real world operations? I'll bet it isn't even close to enough, otherwise the stack of reports that you brought over would be ten times what we got. Am I right?" Kira could see that Soi Fon was getting it.

"It just feels like I have had my job taken away." Soi Fon's voice was full of pain as were her eyes.

"Your job is still there Soi Fon. Just think of it as getting an assistant to make your work load a bit lighter. Now why don't we all go back and you can explain what was in progress there in the real world and I'll make us some dinner." Kira offered with a smile and an outstretched hand.

Soi Fon looked at the offered hand then at Rangiku. "He cooks?"

Rangiku laughed. "And surprisingly well. Come on Soi Fon, Let's go and have a bite to eat."

After a well prepared meal and some tea after, "So that's everything?" Rangiku asked.

"Yes that covers our operations up to date." Soi Fon answered. "Tell me something Rangiku, Where did you find him?" She indicated Kira who was washing the dishes in the kitchen. "He's strong and very intelligent but he is also so kind." She had an odd look to her face as she said this.

"That is a long story Soi Fon. But suffice to say that he's hard to get rid of, not that I want to now. Try getting out and doing a few soul burials and maybe you will find one like him. He is a one of a kind, and he's all mine, so go find your own." She laughed after the last bit.

Kira sneezed in the kitchen. "Must be allergic to something" he mumbled as he wiped his nose.


	4. Chapter 4

**Presents and Greetings**

Ichigo emerged from the gate feeling that he had been turned inside out, again, and was welcomed by Rangiku and Kira. "Hey guys, how's thing's shaping up here?" he asked hiding the nausea of gate travel.

Rangiku looked at him and laughed. "Still don't like the gates do you?"

"Things here are shaping up well. The first group of teams have already been sent down and the next group is just waiting on housing to open up." Kira said ignoring Ichigo's minor bout of motion sickness.

"That's great. The lawyers you had work up the patent paperwork were top notch. Nemu was able to work out a licensing deal with SOMY for a good sum of money and has started reciving payments already. Let's go over to the office and you can fill me in on the rest of the stuff."

When they got into the office and got comfortable Ichigo opened his back pack and pulled out a wrapped gift. "Please have this delivered to Mayuri. It's from Nemu and Mizuiro. They sent a family photo with the baby. Hopefully Mayuri will be happy that he is a grandpa now. Five pounds eight ounces and totally human. They named him Mayuri."

Rangiku took the present and summoned a runner to deliver the package. Then she turned to Ichigo. "What about the security service? How is that coming along?"

"That is taking a little longer than anticipated. It seems that we are going to have to use the backup plan until we can get that going. The plan to open dojos is a good and solid plan, and it isn't too flashy. The security service has sparked a lot of interest but until some contracts are signed there isn't much to do except sell the idea around yet." Ichigo explained. "So show me the troops." He hopped to his feet now that the nausea had worn off.

All the remaining shinigami of the fourteenth gathered in the training area. Most of them already knew Ichigo and those that didn't were encouraged to meet with him. Many of the female students were almost giddy to meet their captain until their bubbles got burst by learning that he was already married and had three children. They were further let down to find that he had married a Kuchiki. When he learned of this semi hero worship, he blushed fiercely but didn't get mad at anyone. He just greeted everyone and asked them what their specialty was. He was intensely interested in the fourth recruits because they could make the difference between life and death for the earthbound shinigami. He also took a sharp interest in those that had come from the twelfth. He wanted them to create a network that could keep everyone connected incase the soul society pager system failed. They looked forward to creating a fusion of shinigami tech and human tech.

After seeing everyone Ichigo excused himself and took a walk over to the offices of the Sixth. He knocked on the door to Byakuya's office and waited for the quiet and resigned "Come" He entered the office and was ignored at first so he just stood there getting more irritated by the moment. Finally Byakuya looked up and acknowledged him. "What do you want Kurosaki?"

"Rukia asked me to deliver this to you." He handed Byakuya a small stack of photos of their children.

Byakuya took them and leafed through them stopping at the last one. He looked at that photo for a very long time before his lips ever so slightly turned up in a smile so slight that Ichigo wasn't really sure that it was a smile. It was a photo of him with the two older children in his arms laughing their hearts out after their uncle had just taken them for a ride using shunpo. They had gotten back from a trip all the way around the wall that surrounded Sereitei. He looked up at Ichigo remembering that he was there still, "You may go."

Ichigo laughed and left the office in search of Renji.

After their ritual greeting of threats and counter threats they slapped each other on the shoulder and caught up on news. Ichigo handed him a letter from Tatsuki that instantly made the captain of the third squad blush brightly. He handed Ichigo a return letter that he had stuffed away in his robes then kicked him out of his office saying he had important paperwork to finish. Ichigo knew that it was so that he could read the letter in peace.

After he caught up with Renji he made a small trip over to the Fourth. He knocked on Unohana's door.

"Captain Unohana is out in the wards right now Captain Kurosaki." Isane said from behind him.

He turned and looked up to the tall woman. "Ah, thanks Isane. You're looking well."

Isane blushed at Ichigo's directness but answered him. "Thank you Captain, You are also looking well. Shall I guide you to Captain Unohana?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind that is."

She led him through the near empty wards to where Unohana was administering a bit of healing to an unfortunate shinigami who had just been admitted into the eleventh squad.

"Ah Ichigo, I thought that I felt your spirit force. What brings you here?" Asked Unohana softly.

"Dad asked me to bring you a few things." He opened his back pack and pulled out several medical journals dealing with tuberculosis. Then he pulled out a crystal globe that had one red rose at its center.

She quickly handed the journals to Isane before accepting the globe and staring at it in wonder. "It's so beautiful." Isane said while all Unohana did was smile.

Ichigo pulled out the last item he had for her and handed her a letter from Isshin.

Unohana opened the letter and read it before closing the letter and thanking Ichigo. "Tell your father that I would love to go to dinner on Friday."

"Will do. You know he acts different after you visit. You're good for him Retsu. Well I have to get back to the fourteenth. See ya."

As Ichigo was making his way back to the fourteenth he passed the twelfth's compound. He thought he heard the almost insane cackling of Mayuri Kurotsuchi, "See, This is my grandson! He looks just like me!" He shook his head thinking to himself, _"No way, that couldn't be Kurotsuchi. He sounds almost… human!"_

Now that his rounds of deliveries were completed he just wanted to take a nap before having to take that damndable gate back to the real world. All of a sudden he felt the unmistakable presence of Kenpachi ahead of him. _"Damn, not him now. I just hope that he dosen't want to fight again."_ He rounded the corner and saw Kenpachi standing there waiting for him with a grin on his face.

"Yo Kurosaki, Did you forget to come visit me?" Kenpachi said with a malicious looking grin on his face.

"No Kenpachi, I didn't forget." Ichigo pulled his back pack around reaching in and withdrawing a small box. "The instructions are in the box and this game will work on the SOMY gamestation unit you bought in the real world. It's the latest "Mortal Combat" game. I think you will like it. Lots of blood and gore for ya. Just don't break the hand units again. Those are getting expensive to replace."

"Ah, Don't worry about that I got Kurotsuchi to make me a pair out of solid steel so they last longer. Besides he likes to come over and play too. It's the only way he can beat someone." Kenpachie rumbled. "Thanks, See ya next trip. Oh hey, Yachiru asked if next time if you could bring her some more coloring books and crayons."

"Yeah, sure thing. See ya big guy." Ichigo let out a sigh of relief as he turned the next corner out of sight of the mountain of a shinigami.

Finally he made it back to the fourteenth. Rangiku watched him come in and drop into a chair looking somewhat exhausted. "Ichigo, what's going on? I've never seen you look this tired before and I've known you for quite a while now." The concern in her voice was evident.

"Oh, nothing. just a combination of running the fourteenth, going to Medical school, and Hisana not sleeping through the night. That and gate travel has me pretty well whipped. I just need a nap, is all."

"I've heard of that, going to work to get some rest." Kira said from the doorway. "Used to have a couple of Marines that did the same thing. They prayed for overnight field ops so that they could get some rest. One even volunteered for overnight ops with other companies to escape." He laughed.

"Well, it's nothing like that, I'm just not scheduled to depart until 5PM so that gives me about three hours of rest unless you have something more to discuss." Ichigo said with a wan smile.

"Oh I just thought that you might like to know that We are going to have a baby." Rangiku said nonchalantly.

"WHAT! That's fantastic! I can't wait to I tell Rukia. You know that she'll want to have a baby shower for you. So when did you find out?" Ichigo's eyes perked up at the news.

"Just yesterday. Unohana was as surprised as we were. She has had more babies born in the past few years than in her entire time as Captain of the fourth previously. Momo is also pregnant. It seems that Hitsugaya finally made it official with her and popped the question. You know she accepted before he even finished asking. Their wedding is set for the spring I think. The invitations are being sent out next week I think." Rangiku was just bubbling with all the latest gossip and now that it started she couldn't stop. Then there is Soi Fon, She has started making it a point to go out and do Soul Burials every Friday. I think she is looking for a husband or at least a boy toy of her own. She's been doing that ever since she got upset and challenged Kira to a duel."

"Soi Fon? You mean that she isn't totally in love with Yoruichi?" Ichigo asked with his mouth hanging open.

"Ichigo you are so blind some days that you could trip over a pebble. You never saw how she looked at you after the whole rescue Rukia thing. She eyed you up one side and down the other like a choice cut of meat. You were just too focused on Rukia, and with good reason." Rangiku said with a knowing eye.

Ichigo blushed rather brightly at this piece of information. He had known that several of the women in Soul Society had become somewhat bothersome after he had rescued Rukia but he had no idea that Soi Fon had been amongst them. "Well wish her luck from me. I'm sure that there is someone out there for her. Just don't tell her that he has to be a masochist in the first place." This caused everyone to laugh.

An icy voice sounded from the door, "Matsumoto gossiping again?" Toshiro Hitsugaya stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

"Toshiro, Come in and have a seat. We're just catching up on things. Congratulations are in order I hear." Ichigo said with a grin.

The young looking captain entered, taking a chair. "Thank you. Your invitation." He handed the scripted invitation to Ichigo. "So, what other roomers has this woman been propagating?" He said with a not so convincing scowl.

"Ah, just the happenings here, nothing bad. So when are you going to come down for a visit? Rukia will want to take Momo out shopping to get her some baby clothing and clothes for her pregancy." Ichigo's grin was soft but knowing.

Toshiro just sweat dropped at the question. "I think that we are going to be down there in about a week or so." He said in an unsure voice.

"Don't sweat it Toshiro. Rukia will take Momo and all you have to do is lounge around while they are out shopping." Kira said laughing.

"Officially I'm going to inspect the operations for Central 46." He snapped trying to maintain some dignity.

Ichigo winked at him, "Sure, sure"

"And what about you two? When are you coming down for an 'inspection' tour." Ichigo posed to Rangiku and Kira.

"Whenever the Captain requests our presence, Sir!" Kira spit out quickly.

"Fine then make it the same time that Hitsugaya has to come down. That way we can kill two birds with one stone, or rather birds."


	5. Chapter 5

She sat on the rooftop looking out over the city enjoying the view and the quiet time she had to herself. She was reflecting on the past and how her life had come to this point. From her point of view everything started with a simple command from her captain to draw a new shinigami back to the squad so that he could conduct experiments on him. From that point everything had gone wrong. Well not exactly wrong, but not according to her plans. She had failed to capture his heart, and thus failed to draw him away from the tenth squad. Then he fell for Matsumoto Rangiku and married her. He achieved shaki and then bankai within an unbelievable amount of time and had introduced her to her husband. He had become one of her co-vice captains and had told her that he had suspected what her goal was when she followed him to the real world. That man had become one of her best friends and someone that she trusted with her life. As a matter of record he had saved her life on several occasions, as well as the lives of members of the division and civilian lives too. She was still working under the compulsion of her former captain and father though. Unfortunately his word was law to her and she could not change that. He had created her and programmed her thought process to answer to him in all things. She could not disregard any of his commands and had to carry out those commands to the letter of the instruction. Luckely she had been given some leeway when he had ordered her to bring Kira Tenaka back to the squad and an opportunity had not presented it self. Nemu stood up and looked around a moment before walking to the edge of the roof and dropping down into her yard landing with surprising grace.

Inside Mizuiro was finishing up a report that had to be handed in the following day so that the lawyers could review his wife's latest creation that helped fund the fourteenth division. He saw her drop past the window as he looked up and smiled sadly. He knew that there was something bothering her and she didn't want to or couldn't talk about it for some reason. She had taken to sitting on the roof at times and just staring out over the city as though she were trying to resolve some sort of internal conflict. This had been going on now for almost five years. Ever since their son had been born she had been distant some days as this problem kept building up in her. He had been willing to let well enough alone as long as what ever it was worked itself out but this one problem didn't resolve itself.

"Nemu, come in and sit with me darling." He called out when he heard the sliding glass door close.

Nemu came in a moment later and sat down on the couch with her husband and looked somewhat depressed. "Yes Mizuiro, what is it?"

He decided that getting directly to the point was the best method. "What has been bothering you so much? The Division is doing well. All our friends are healthy and happy. Our son is well and as far as I can tell work is going well. So what has been bothering you so much?"

The beautiful shinigami lowered her head and looked at the floor before replying. "Before I met you I was the vice captain of the twelfth squad. My father was my captain. As you know he created me using a modified gigia and a modified mod soul. What you didn't know was that he also chained my reactions to his wishes. I have to perform every command he ever gives me without fail. One of the last commands he gave me was to ensnare Kira Tenaka and bring him to the squad for experimentation. He gave me some leeway in the command so that I wouldn't arouse the suspicion of Captain Hitsugaya whom he was subordinate to. Since the changes in the squads and the creation of the fourteenth division Kira is no longer under the direct command of Captain Hitsugaya anymore. This means that I am directly violating my orders now and it is slowly driving me crazy with each day I don't complete my assigned task. I can't tell Kira because he ordered me to be covert, I can't ask him to rescind the order, and I don't want to complete the task. Becides Kira has almost as much power as Ichigo and he has an insane amount of strength. There is no way that I could force him to accompany me and also Rangiku wouldn't allow it." The tears were streaming down her face by this time and Mizuiro pulled her into an embrace trying to comfort her.

He knew that he couldn't just walk up to Mayuri Kurotsuchi and ask him to remove the order that was driving his wife insane but he had to do something.

That evening after Nemu had gone to take a bath he called Ichigo.

"Oi, Mizuiro, what has you calling me at this hour? Anything wrong?"

"Yeah buddy, I need to ask for a huge favor that you might not want to hear about."

"Well when do you want to meet?"

"How about coffee in the morning at your house?"

"Sounds good. I have no classes until the afternoon anyway. See ya in the morning."

"Ok bye." He hung up the line and went back to reading his report.

Nemu walked out in her short bathrobe drying her hair. "Why didn't you come and take your bath?"

"I had to finish this report so that the lawyers can have it in the morning. I'll go and take mine now." He got up to go.

"Thank you for listening to me this afternoon. I know that there isn't much that you can do but I love you and I will try to deal with this as best I can." She kissed him.

"So you want to come and wash my back for me?" He winked.

The following morning after dropping off the report with the lawyers office Mizuiro stopped at the home of Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Oi, Mizuiro, How have you been? Where is Nemu?" His taller friend took his hand and shook it firmly.

"She is the reason I'm here Ichigo. We have a problem." Mizuiro looked at his friends face for a reaction and was satisfied that he had Ichigo's attention now. "How much do you know about Nemu, Ichigo?"

"Well from what I understand she is the daughter of Mayuri Kurotsuchi. She was created using a modified MOD soul and a modified Gigia similar to the one Urahara created for Kon and Ririn. So what is the problem?"

"Well it seems that Mayuri also crafted her personality so that every one of his orders carries the weight of a compulsion. She is obliged to carry out those orders regardless of the validity or ability to carry out the order. He gave her an order back when Kira first arrived in soul society to bring him to his lab for experimentation. Luckely he left some loopholes that have allowed her to avoid this so far but it's slowly driving her mad. I tried to leave it alone figuring it was something to do with the division or her research but it kept getting worse. I asked her about it yesterday and she told me what it was all about. She has got to take Kira to her father's lab. Otherwise she is going to go insane."

Ichigo didn't respond directly, mulling it over in his head. He picked up his cell phone and hit a speed dial number.

"Oi, Kira, Got a few minutes?"

"Sure thing Captain. What do you need?"

"Is Rangiku there? You might want to put this on speaker if she is."

"Hey Ichigo, whats up?" came the sultry voice of Rangiku.

"It seems that we have to send Kira with Nemu to Mayuri's lab to complete an old order that he gave her. I didn't know how much control over her actions he had until just now. It seems that when you had just arrived in Soul Society Mayuri wanted to experiment on you and sent Nemu to try and bring you back. That order has not been canceled and she can't ask that it be canceled. It's driving her crazy now. Do you think that you could pick her up at the gate and take her to the lab without to much incident?"

There was a long pause with some mumbling in the background. "Sure thing Captain. I think that I can handle this little inconvenience. When do you want me to pick her up?"

Ichigo looked at Mizurio. "Tomorrow? Is that ok?"

Ichigo nodded. "Tomorrow will be fine, say about 9AM?"

"Will do boss man. Anything else?"

"Yes, please tell Mayuri that he needs to remove all the compulsions from Nemu or I'll visit him in person and there won't be enough left of his lab or division to even warrant him having a captaincy."

"Will do."

"OK, Talk to ya later." Ichigo clicked off the phone and looked to Mizuiro. "I'll call Nemu and tell her that I need her to go to Soul Society in the morning so don't worry about telling her. This meeting never happened."

"Thanks Ichigo, I knew that I could count on you for help. Now where is that coffee?"

Nemu's cell was ringing at her hip while she was piecing through a few thousand lines of code on her project. She plucked it from her belt and looked at the name that came up. "Yes Captain, What can I do for you?"

"Nemu, I need you to take a business trip in the morning to bring back something. You leave at 9AM. I'll meet you at Urahara's store at 8:30 to brief you. It should be a short trip and you should be home by evening."

"Yes sir, anything else sir?"

"No that covers it. See you in the morning. Bye."

She heard the line click off and closed her cell. She turned to Mizuiro as he walked in the door. "Mizuiro, I have to take a short trip in the morning. Will you be alright?"

"Sure hun, going to Soul Society?" His face was completely innocent.

"Yes, but I should be home by dinner." She said softly.

"Ok. We'll order something for dinner and have it delivered. That way you won't have to rush around and cook anything." He said with a smile. He was used to her infrequent 'business trips'.

"Thank you, you're so sweet to me."

He took her in his arms. "I would do anything for you and you know it. So don't go and get all mushy over takeout food." He kissed her anyway.

Eight thirty on the dot Nemu stepped from her cab and entered the store to find Ichigo and Urahara waiting for her. "I'm ready for my briefing sir she said softly."

"Well the main point of the trip is to have you pick up a few supplies from Kira who will be waiting for you at the gate. He will help you bring them back to the gate." Ichigo said being somewhat circumspect in his wording.

Her suspision was raised at this considering the timing after talking to Mizuiro about her problems and then being sent on a business trip two days later. She didn't question her orders though and took the proffered list of supplies from Ichigo.

The climb down into the training room used up the remaining time and the gate opened promptly at 9AM. She stepped through and walked until the opposite doors opened and she stepped out under the radiant sun of Soul Society.

"Hey Nemu, how have you been?" Kira was waiting for her as promised. "Lets get those things on the list now and we can have you back on the way home in about two hours."

"Good to see you Vice Captain Tenaka, How have you been?" She greeted him.

"Not bad, still trying to get used to all the formality of being an officer. Jarheads are hard to change." He joked with her. She just blinked at him not understanding his humor.

"Ah well, let's get a move on and get this over with." He said in defeat. "Isn't one of the things on the list at the twelfth squad?" He took the list and pretended to look it over. "Yeah, there it is. Let's hit there first. I still don't like your father so let's get his squad over with asap."

"Yes sir." Was all that she could say. She felt the compulsion growing as the opportunity to complete her order showed itself to her. She fell in behind Kira and was looking around to see if anyone was watching. They made a direct path to the front gate of the twelfth squad. Where a guard checked their list and allowed them access to the compound. The guard acknowledged Nemu knowing that she was Mayuri's daughter.

Kira felt like he was about to explode as they walked into the main building. Once in the building he turned to Nemu. "Take me to your father's lab. I need to deliver a message from Captain Kurosaki." His reiatsu had soared to levels that made it hard to do much more than comply with his order.

Nemu's eyes shot open fully as she looked at Kira. "T-t-this w-w-way Sir."

She guided him through the maze of rooms and halls to the one marked PRIVATE LAB DO NOT ENTER ON PAIN OF DEATH.

Kira opened the door and stepped in to face a furious Mayuri who was screaming at the top of his lungs. "WHO DARES DISTURBE ME WHILE I'M CONDUCTING DELICATE EXPERIMENTS!"

"I dare you pompous ass. I'm here to deliver a message from Captain Kurosaki. First, remove all compulsions from Vice Captain Nemu of the Fourteenth Division. Second, if you fail to comply with this order Captain Kurosaki has made it clear that he will destroy you and this compound down to the last wall. Are there any questions?" Kira's reiatsu had soared even higher while he was talking in a calm voice to the furious Mayuri.

"What is the meaning of this nonsense? What does he mean he will destroy this compound? And why should I do as he demands." Mayuri was now feeling just how powerful Kira had become in his time here in Soul Society and knew that Kurosaki was even more powerful. He was starting to know true fear. Between these two shinigami there was nothing that he could do or say that would ever let him keep control over Nemu. "Fine. Nemu attention. Umen Ihcustoruk"

Nemu had snapped to attention and her eyes glazed over momentarily before she shook her head.

"Nemu, are you all right?" Kira asked not looking away from Mayuri.

"Yes sir I feel fine now." She said not fully understanding what had just happened. She looked around momentarily and then settled her gaze on Mayuri and felt the revulsion of years of abuse come rushing into her head. She started to cry and wanted to lash out and hurt the monster that had inflicted so many humiliating things on her. "Make him release my sister too." She cried leaning against Kira.

"Mayu is not under any sort of compulsion. For some reason she is immune to that programming. I believe that you are responsible for that Nemu. So have no fear for her. I have learned a little from the day you married that human that she is a far better Vice Captain for not being under a compulsion. Now if that is all you want from me please leave." With that he turned his back on the pair and resumed his experimenting.

The rest of the 'supply' run went without incident and Nemu was ready to return to Urahara's store at the stroke of twelve. She hugged Kira as her emotions were now unlocked completely and thanked him from the bottom of her heart. Rangiku was there to see her off also and was being held by Kira as she stepped through the gate.

On the other side of the gate she had a single person welcoming committee of Mizuiro. She ran to him and was enfolded in his arms as she hugged him and kissed him with tears streaming down her face. "I love you more than I can ever express to you Mizuiro. You have given me my life. You have made me your wife and you have given me a child. I love you so much!"

They held each other for a while before they turned to take Urahara's freight elevator up to the store.

"Nemu, next time you have a problem, please tell me as soon as you can. Alone you might not be able to solve it but together we are better at solving things."


	6. Chapter 6

Unohana stepped through the gate onto the street just opposite of the Kurosaki clinic at seven PM. She was right on time, and was looking forward to enjoying the weekend with Isshin. The small travel bag she carried had little except a change of clothing for her stay. She even left her cell/pager in her quarters. Isane did have the number to the clinic if there was any big emergency and Ichigo and Rukia only lived a block away from the clinic anyway. She crossed the street and entered the clinic making her way through the small maze of corridors and doors until she was standing at Isshin Kurosaki's office door. She could feel the heavily restrained spiritual pressure of the former captain and smiled to herself. "_He is almost as bad as Ichigo at hiding his reiatsu when he's nervous."_ She knocked gently and felt the sharp spike that quickly went back down to background level.

"Come in Retsu, I'm just finishing a report then I'm all yours." He was smiling as she opened the door but saw his face drop in shock as he got a good look at her.

Unohana had taken the time to ask Rukia to purchase some clothing for her that might be suitable for a casual date out in town. Something that wouldn't draw too much attention. She looked down at her attire that consisted of high heels with a black mid length dress that wasn't too daring in front or back but did set off her figure rather nicely. She had redone her hair into a pony tail behind her and had bound it in two places with a white wrap. Her only jewelry was a single guilt rose adorning her left breast. "Is there something out of place?" She said with a small smile adorning her lips.

"My goddess. You look spectacular. The only thing out of place is me."

"You still haven't lost your talent for words, Isshin." She said with a slight reddening of her cheeks.

"Then shall we go?" He rose from his desk and took his jacket from the hanger on the wall. "Yuzu, I'll be going now. Don't let Jinta stay too late tonight. I'm sure that he has work in the morning."

Yuzu looked up from her paperwork in the office across from Isshins. "Dad, stop it. You know I won't keep him here all night. Hi Retsu, how have you been? You're looking very nice tonight." She said with a huge smile on her face.

"Thank you Yuzu. I'll try and have your father home early." Retsu said with a slight smile.

"No, keep him as long as you want. The clinic is closed for the weekend anyway. Besides he needs a break." The impish grin on Yuzu's face made Retsu laugh softly.

"Hey, what's this about me needing a break? Last time I looked you haven't taken a vacation in…well, ever." Isshin feigned a look of hurt.

"And who would take care of you, Kon, and Ririn? I've seen you in the kitchen Dad and to be honest, you suck at cooking. Now get out of here. Go relax and have some fun." Yuzu waived her hand in a slightly dismissive way at the two before returning to her work with a smile. _"She does bring out the best in him."_

They almost made it out the door before Kon and Ririn tumbled past them bickering about something with Ririn hot on Kon's heels with blood in her eye. Isshin scooped up the furious ten year old looking girl as she passed. "Whoo there, what did he do this time?" Isshin asked in a concerned manner.

"That BAKA! He was making fun of my cooking!" She screamed after Kon who was taking that opportunity to get as far away as possible.

"Slow down Ririn, when did you start learning how to cook?" Isshin asked mildly surprised.

"Yuzu's been teaching me for a couple weeks now." She said calming down slightly.

"Ririn, how long do you think it took me to become a competent healer?" asked Retsu with a gentle smile.

She looked at Unohana with a slight pout. "I don't know, a few years I guess. What does that have to do with cooking?"

"It's a skill Ririn, not something you are born with or have implanted in you. It takes time and I'm sure that when you have learned enough you are going to have Kon thanking you for the meals. That will be the best way to get him back. Not beating him up. Besides, that way you have the satisfaction of having him thank you for a long time rather than a momentary satisfaction of a fight."

Ririn looked thoughtful as she calmed herself. She looked up at Retsu, "Thanks, I never thought about it that way. I'll do my best and make him apologize to me at every meal by saying 'thank you'."

Isshin released Ririn with a smile and patted her on the head before she turned and went back into the house with a determined smile on her face. He glanced at Retsu. "You have a way with them that I don't yet. Let's get moving before anything else happens."

"So where are we going?" Retsu asked with mild amusement.

"There is a nice new restaurant that just opened in town and I thought that we would check it out." Isshin said with all the bravado of a man in his twenties.

"And you made reservations?" She inquired.

"Last week before Ichigo went for his inspection." He said with confidence.

She gave him a sideways glance. "And what if I said I couldn't make it?"

His confidence fell away. "Then I'd have to pay for the evening anyway. They want your credit card in advance before making the reservation."

She took his arm and held it close. "Then let's get your moneys worth out of this evening."

His bravado restored, Isshin led his date into town.

Atop the very restaurant that Isshin and Retsu were going to sat Ikkaku and Fumico. They were taking a few moments out of their evening patrol to rest and relax.

"So this is what patrol is like. It seems like it's a total waste of time to me." Fumico said with a dejected look on her face.

"Oh I don't know… See that couple down there?" Ikkaku said pointing at Retsu and Isshin. "You don't see this sort of sight hanging around at home now do you?"

Fumico looked and dismissed it until she recognized one of the people. "Captain Unohana? what's she doing here and what is she doing with a human?"

"To me it looks like she is going out to dinner with one of the most powerful shinigami captains to have ever held the post in Soul Society." He smirked.

"Him? A shinigami? captain? Who the hell is he? I don't recognize him." She looked dubious.

"That my dear is Isshin Kurosaki. He's Ichigo's dad and a former captain. He left Soul Society long before you came to the squads. That 'man' has more combat experience than most of the captains in Soul Society. I also think that he had a fling with Unohana before he left. I think they're re-igniting an old flame. Currently he is a doctor and a damn fine one at that. Just don't expect him to act like a normal captain if you meet him. He's retired from this work and tries to stay out of the business now. You'll like him." Ikkaku had a smile on his face.

"Well are you rested enough Fumico? If so then lets wrap this up and go home."

Fumico laughed. "It's sort of funny when you say go home. I would never have thought of a small three room apartment with you as my roommate as home until recently."

"Heh, Yeah, I know what you mean. I kind of like it. What about you?" He looked at her questioningly.

"Yeah, I do like it. You also have an early kendo class. Now let's go home Ikkaku." She took his hand and leapt with him over to the next building and from there disappeared from view.

Nemu and Mizuiro were enjoying a night out for the first time in months since the baby was born. Nemu's 'sister' Mayu had come to the real world to discuss some of her research with Nemu and had agreed to baby-sit their boy.

Ever since Mayuri had released the compulsion on Nemu she had opened up to the world and started enjoying herself without all the reservations that she had been weighed down with. Her relationship with her cloned sister was also better. She was able to hold her own in conversations and not be subservient to everyone's wishes all the time. Well except for Mizuiro that is. She still worshiped the ground that he walked on even if she was now able to stand beside him.

She noted the familiar presence of Unohana as they strolled along to their dinner and caught sight of her with a tall man who looked somewhat familiar. They were entering to the same restaurant as she and Mizuiro had reservations at. This could be different.

They caught up to the couple just as they turned over their coats to the hat check and introduced themselves. "Dr. Kurosaki, how have you been?" Asked Mizuiro.

Caught by surprise Isshin turned around. "Why Mizuiro Kojima. I haven't seen you or Nemu in quite some time. How's the baby?"

Nemu blushed slightly, "He is doing wonderfully Doctor. How are you Captain Unohana?" She said turning to Retsu.

"I'm doing very well Nemu. Please call me Restu tonight. I'm off duty and on a date."

"Doc, I didn't know that you still had it in ya." Mizuiro was nudging Isshin gently in the ribs.

Isshin actually blushed at this comment before responding. "Well I've known Retsu for a long time now and we just ran into one another not that long ago. Besides Yuzu and Karin ganged up on me and forced me to start dating again." He was scratching the back of his head and looking sheepish.

"Oh? Is that why I'm here?" asked Retsu with an arched eyebrow.

"No Retsu I wanted to take you out on a date. Honest, what was I saying ….. Yes they kicked me until I got off my butt and called you." He finally admitted looking down.

"Then remind me to thank them when we get home." She said with one of the most wonderful smiles this side of heaven.

Isshin's chest puffed up like a balloon with her smile. "Would you two like to join us?"

"No Doc, We have our own reservations and we were looking for a little alone time if you get my drift." Mizuiro winked at him.

"Got'cha, Well take care and bring the baby by for a check up soon." Isshin and Retsu were lead away to their table leaving the young couple waiting for their table.

"So what kind of restaurant is this?" asked Retsu noting the atmosphere and realizing that it wasn't Japanese.

"For you my dear we are in a French restaurant. I thought that you might like the change of pace. And they say that Paris is for lovers. The name of this place is la Madeleine. They just opened a couple of weeks ago." He was beaming with pride at his thoughtfulness.

"I haven't eaten French cuisine in ages." A delighted Retsu tittered. "Well Monsieur, What do you recommend?" She had switched to French and held the accent perfectly.

"Mademoiselle, I suggest the Clos de Vougeot burgundy and maybe some escargot?" he replied in perfect French.

She almost giggled she was enjoying herself so much. She almost didn't feel the dark presence outside the café. Almost.

"Isshin, do you feel that?" She asked with a smile on her face.

He nodded. "Would you please excuse me for a moment so that I may have a cigarette?"

"If you must then please do." She dismissed him gently knowing that he was about to go out and banish a hollow that was about to intrude on their date.

She sat there paitently while he went outside and sat in one of the sidewalk chairs. Nemu also felt the presence and walked towards the door but caught sight of Isshin headed outside. She turned around and went back to Mizuiro.

"Hollow?" He asked.

"Yes, but it is being handled." She replied before taking a sip of her wine.

Outside Isshin stood up from his gigai and stepped around the corner into the ally spotting the looming hollow as it looked in on what it thought was going to be its feast.

"Excuse me but we are having dinner in there and you are not invited. Mind shoving off? I'm feeling generous tonight."

The hollow looked at Isshin and started to laugh until he released a portion of his reiatsu and an answering amount was let loose by Retsu and Nemu.

"Are you sure that you don't want to go home hungry?" He asked with a smile on his face.

The monster lunged at him but never got more than a meter before it started to dissipate into nothingness. "I was trying to be generous." He pushed his zanpakutō the final two inches into the sheath.

He returned to his gigai and sat down into it then stood up and walked back in to enjoy the rest of the evening.


	7. Chapter 7

The ally was cold and wet but the resident of this ally didn't mind the weather. As a matter of fact he didn't even feel the weather. The rain just passed through him splattering on the ground. He had been there for a very long time for a ghost considering that he had died in 1990 and still had a significant number of links left to his chain of fate. He had seen many shinigami come and go in the years that he had stood his watch over the house that his wife lived in. They all asked him to let them send him to Soul Society but he politely refused each time. He had been happy when she remarried and had had another child to raise alongside their own two. He had been saddened at the death of her second husband for he was a good man, He told him so before the shinigami had sent him to Soul Society. He had seen the war of the arrancar and the shinigami from a hidden place and been relieved that the shinigami were strong enough to fend off the monsters. Now he felt that it was almost time to leave. His wife was now living with their children in a different town and he felt that his job was now done.

She strolled along the streets silently. She wasn't actually visible to better than 99.9 percent of the population but that didn't detract from the stealthy way that she moved. The cold rain didn't affect her but it did annoy her. She looked at the sky with a scowl that was meant to scare it into relenting but the sky just ignored her. She sighed wishing that she had something better to occupy her mind with but recently she had been feeling lonely at her work and with her best friend spending so much time here in the real world she had decided to resume performing soul burials.

Soi Fon had picked up the presence of this soul that was near by and was going to him wondering why this particular soul hadn't been buried yet. She entered the ally between two houses and spotted the man standing there calmly gazing at a house and hardly even registering a movement. She walked up to him and stopped a few feet short of him. "You used to live there?"

He turned his head and looked at the captain of the second squad. "Yes. My wife used to live there until just recently also. She moved away to live with our children just about a week ago." He looked back to the house. "Now it is only a memory and a very pleasant one. I suppose that you would like to send me to Soul Society now?"

"Well that is the plan unless you have anything else to do." She said somewhat softly and definitely out of character for her.

"Just one thing left to do, I don't suppose that you would like to accompany me on a short walk would you?" He had turned again to look at her again.

"Why not, it's not like there is much going on tonight with all the rest of the shinigami out patrolling. Where are we going?"

"Just a few blocks from here." He said as he started walking away from the house.

Soi Fon trailed after the man wondering what he wanted to do. It wasn't like he could ever affect anything in the real world again but she was intrigued. "My name is Soi Fon, Captain of the Second Protection Squad of Soul Society. What is yours?"

Ren, Ren Davis." He said not looking back at her. "I know it isn't a Japanese name but I'm not a native born Japanese person. I was born in the US. Hawaii to be exact. My parents died shortly after my birth and I was adopted by a local couple. They raise me well and made me into what I think is an honorable man. Well that's my opinion. I became an undercover narcotics investigator and that lead to a posting here in Japan. I was on loan to the local police as an undercover agent and with my American background I was bullet proof as a undercover cop."

"_Why is he telling me all this?"_ She wondered.

"I bet you are wondering why I'm blabbing on like this, aren't you." He looked over his shoulder at her with a smile. "Well it gets lonely not having anyone to chat with. It's nice to have someone that can listen to me."

The words struck home with Soi Fon and made her stop in her tracks.

"Ah, I see that you know what I mean. Lots of people at your command. No one to talk to in a normal conversation. Right?" He had stopped and turned around to face her. "I can see it in your eyes so why not just talk to me tonight and maybe I can lift some of your boredom. I'm a good listener and I'm sure that you could use a good ear tonight. I know that I can stand the company of a beautiful woman that can hear and talk to me. So, if you don't mind the company of a ghost, tell me about Soi Fon."

She was in shock at his words because they struck so true. They were kind words that touched the core of her like few had. She sensed that he was a lot like her in the respect that he was lonely and needed someone to just talk to. "I'm not very good at speaking about myself Ren but I'll try."

"I'm sure that once you start you will do just fine." He held out a hand in a gesture of friendship.

Soi Fon looked at the offered hand then at him then back at the hand. She had very little physical contact with the members of Soul Society that wasn't directly involved with combat training and she was unsure as to what to do.

Ren looked at his hand then laughed softly. "Well I can't exactly blame you, I can see through it too."

"No, no it isn't anything like that. I'm just not used to close physical contact with many people." She blushed slightly then reached out and took his hand. "See I can do it and I can hold your hand."

"Yes you can, and you feel so warm. Thank you, Soi Fon. I haven't held anyone's hand since the morning of my death. The last time I held another's hand was when I held my wife's hand before I went to work. The sad thing was that I almost refused to go into work that day. If I had refused I might still be alive now." He laughed softly as he resumed walking holding her hand gently.

She walked beside him as he continued. "The captain called me and asked me to come downtown to brief me on a new operation and I got caught up in a traffic accident. I wanted to spend my day off with my wife and kids but he insisted. Heh, 20/20 hind sight. I should have told him it could wait until the following day."

"You were just being a good officer. You couldn't have foreseen what happened." She said trying to cheer him up. "So you still haven't told me where we are going. And why."

"A man is going to die tonight I believe. He was the man I was going to be investigating before I died. He was involved in lots of things from drugs to human slavery trafficking. The police never could get anything on him but it seems that God was watching. He has cancer and is very close to death now. I just wanted to see him after he dies so that I can tell him that I know what sort of man he was and watch him go to hell. This will be my final satisfaction before you take me, if you don't mind."

They stopped in front of a large house with a massive wall surrounding the premises. The gate was closed and there was a camera looking down from above. Ren stepped through the gate to the other side leaving Soi Fon to leap to the top of the wall then down to join him. Ghosts did have some advantages when it came to moving about in the material world. She followed him up to the house and opened the door carefully. They went in and made their way to the room where several men stood around and were looking somewhat bored as they waited for their leader to die.

"More of the future denizens of hell if you ask me." He laughed. "These guys have no idea what is in store for them. I bet that they don't even care either." He passed through them like a cold breeze making some of them shiver.

She carefully slipped past them to follow him. She found him standing at the foot of the bed of the man he had been talking about. He had been right. This man was very near death and would very soon breathe his last breath. She stood quietly watching as the man fought for breath his eyes searching for something.

His eyes lit on her and she saw him start with fear as he could see her. "Who are you?" he whispered so low that no one outside the room could hear it.

"I am a Death God." She said with a voice as cold as the abyss. She saw the fear in his eyes as he realized what she said.

"And what about him?" He indicated Ren with his eyes.

"If I were you, I would be more concerned with me right now. I hold your future in my hands now. That doesn't mean that I can bring you life but I can make a decision that will affect your death." Her eyes were as cold as stones as she glared at the dieing man. "You were a merchant of death and misery weren't you. You profited from drugs and slavery didn't you."

"Noooooo, That's a lie!" He wailed softly. She was sure that this one would become a hollow almost instantly upon death. This one had used up his chain of fate long ago and was not even worth trying to save. She knew that the moment he died that he would become a hollow and that as soon as she smashed his mask he would be drawn into hell.

"Ren, you may not want to be here for this. It could get messy." She said softly to the former policeman.

"Soi, I've seen far worse than anything that could happen tonight. I just want to make sure that he gets justice."

"She called you Ren? Ren Davis? You were that cop I had killed back in 90. Why are you here?" The man was now terrified.

"I'm just here to see justice done. Nothing more." Ren said with a very hard tone.

The body of the man was done. Cardiac arrest seized his heart and a soundless scream was on his lips as his body finally gave out. The spirit sat up from the carcass and looked around. Just as Soi Fon suspected the chain was only a link or two long and suddenly it started to dissolve. The spirit screamed as his body shattered and then reformed within a black mist. The unearthly scream of the newly formed hollow was deafening to the shinigami and the ghost. The white mask of bone formed around his face covering his features for the last time. The screaming went on as the hollow writhed in pain from being reborn.

Something else was happening at the same time. Ren started to feel the anger of learning that he hadn't died from a random car accident and that he had been murdered back then. He felt the anger give him a strength that he had never felt before. He looked at the monster that had formed and felt that anger burn hot and clear. "You had me killed?"

He rushed at the hollow and swung his closed fist into the mask hitting it with incredible force. He didn't crack it but he knocked the hollow off its feet and through the window to the street below.

He tried to follow but Soi Fon stopped him. "Let me handle this. Stay back and watch judgment." She jumped out the window and landed gracefully on her feet. She drew her zanpakutō and faced the stunned hollow. "Prepare to accept judgment you monster." She moved in a blur of motion and had sliced through the mask like it was made out of paper. She stepped back and watched as the gates of hell formed behind the screaming hollow. It was in so much pain that it never noticed the massive gate form let alone open. The huge sword of hell speared the hollow lifting it off the ground and pulling it into the flames. The screaming could be heard even after the gate slammed shut. Then the gate cracked and shattered.

Soi Fon then looked for Ren. "There, justice has been done. Are you satisfied?" She held his eyes with hers.

"No, not really. Yes he got what was coming to him but that doesn't mean that I don't pity him. In a way I almost hoped that he could admit his crimes and ask for forgiveness but in the end that wasn't him. He died a long time ago."

Something didn't make sense to Soi Fon. "Ren just who was he? Besides a criminal that is."

"He was my brother." Ren turned and started to walk away. "I never got to know him and he was the one that ordered my death. I don't even think that he knew who I was. Now he will never know."

Soi Fon looked down at her zanpakutō and slowly sheathed it behind her. She ran to catch up to Ren and took his hand. "Come on, let's take you somewhere a little less depressing." She took his arm and using shunpo streaked across the rooftops to a little hill looking over the town. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon when they got there. They stood there and watched as the sun chased away the shadows of the city making it look new.

"I think that I'm ready to move on now. What do I have to do?" He asked calmly.

"First I'd like to make you an offer. I think that you have a lot to offer as a shinigami and maybe even to the world if you feel up to taking on a new job." Her smile was something that he hadn't seen until now. He carefully looked at her wondering what sort of job she could offer.

"So tell me about this job, does it have benefits? A medical plan? What about retirement?" He returned her smile.

"Well the travel is almost non-stop. The medical care is top notch, and the work can be rather fulfilling."

"Now for the big question, do I get to work for you, Captain?" His eyes bored into hers.

She turned slightly red at the question but held her gaze. "That depends on if you can keep up with me and put up with my sour moods."

"That's the best offer I've had in many years. No promises about the putting up with sour moods though. I can be somewhat stubborn and moody also. I accept your offer and I'll do my best to make you proud of me." His smile was genuine and she felt something deep in her soul. She wasn't sure what it was but she took the chance.

"Then let's go. You have a lot of work ahead of you if you're going to be able to keep up with me." She turned her back to the rising sun and took out her zanpakutō and opened the gate. She took his arm and drew him through and into the light.


	8. Chapter 8

The attack started in the middle of the morning hours. The sun hadn't risen as the first screams of the wounded could be heard. **Zaraki Kenpachi** roused himself quickly and picked Yachiru up and put her on his back where she instinctively hung on. He shouted into the barracks waking every last one in the eleventh squad with his massive voice and even more impressive spiritual energy. They all fell out and awaited orders as the sounds of carnage drew closer.

"Seems that bitch in charge of the second squad missed something" he rumbled to himself. "Yumichika, take half of the squad and go directly at the lead elements and stall them. The rest of you start rousting the rest of the squads. You, Yachiru, get your tail over to the fourteenth and stay there. If they start an evac you go and don't look back. Get across and tell Ichigo and Rangiku that we have problems. I think Hitsugaya is down there too as well as Unohana. We will send for you when we have an all clear."

Yachiru, started to object when she caught a backhand from Kenpachi. "I ain't askin' I'm tellin you to get!" He roared. She shot out of sight with tears streaming down her face.

**Yamamoto-Genryūsai Shigekuni** stood on his balcony and looked out over the battle and grumbled bitterly to himself. Taking his staff and holding it out he called forth the initial release of Ryūjin Jakka. "Reduce the whole of creation to smoldering ashes." He flash stepped into the battle delivering a massive wall of flame against the attacking hollows and arrancar. None dared fight near him for fear of being incinerated.

**Izuru Kira** tried to rally the third squad but they were overwhelmed in moments as several arrancar lead the hollows through the barracks slaughtering all in their path. He died defending several of the women of the squad who were frightened into inaction. Only two of the women escaped to the rally point and they then were sent to the fourteenth for evac because they were beyond being able to cope with what they had witnessed.

The second squad was fully at the ready when **Soi Fon** emerged in full battle dress. "Attack them from the left flank and cut into them forcing them to back off and re-direct their attack. Send a runner to the eleventh and the sixth and inform them of our plan." She then grabbed Ren. "You're not ready for this. Get yourself over to the fourteenth and stay there. If they evacuate, go with them." She then did something that she had never done. She grabbed his collar and pulled him down into a kiss then shoved him away. "Get out of here now!"

**Byakuya Kuchiki** strode about the compound and looked at the shinigami of the sixth. He could sense the fight and the major players as they warred. He received the runners from the eleventh first and second squads and laid his plan out. "The attack had originated in the area of the third squad and had shattered that squad completely. First and second squads have engaged the hollows on their left flank and the eleventh has stopped them up the middle. That leaves the remaining squads to crash against the hollows like a hammer. Send runners to eighth, ninth and tenth and tell them to watch our backs and get someone over to fourth and see if they are ok." All this was spoken in a calm monotone voice which did not give away the fact that he had a very bad feeling about what was about to happen.

**Jūshirō Ukitake **Watched as the flames created by the commander general obliterated legions of hollows and arrancar and wondered if it was going to be enough. He saw the steady stream of potential evacuees pass through his squad area on their way to the fourteenth and was surprised to see the tiny vice captain of the eleventh making her way there. He saw that she had tears in her eyes as she walked along and he knew that she knew that Kenpachi had sent her away because this wasn't a fight that he thought they were going to win. He hoped that Zaraki was wrong and that he would be able to apologize to his little vice captain in person. He shook his head and began directing his shinigami to form up and start heading in the direction of the first squad and to support them in their efforts.

**Mayuri **was raging at the failure of the second squad and his own detection unit that had not been able to sound a warning when the attack began. _"How did those incompetents let this happen?!"_ "Get the research material over to the fourteenth and get ready to send it through to the real world. If we fail here maybe Nemu will make something of what we send her. She has a good number of former twelfth members there with her." He pushed his shinigami relentlessly to get the materials and notes ready. He kept an eye on the horizon and watched the flames creep higher.

**Kira Tenaka** could feel the battle and the number of shinigami using Bankai was very high. He could tell that Byakuya had called out Senbonzakura Kageyoshi and was fully engaged in wholesale slaughter of hollows and arrancar on a scale beyond measure. And that Kenpachi had lost his eyepatch long ago releasing his full potential along with his reciently discovered initial release of his zanpakutō. He felt the massive electrical discharge of Soi Fon's shunkō. The towering inferno could only be caused by the commander general himself. He saw all this as he stood high up on top of the fourteenth headquarters in full bankai mode. His armor reflecting all light, and his double edged battle blade dancing with massive electrical discharges. He would occasionally pick out a flying hollow and blast it to smithereens and then resuming his watch over the fleeing survivors. The squads were being pushed back slowly and the onslaught of hollows and arrancar had no ending in sight. He noted that several manholes had opened allowing shinigami to pass through the fighting without having to endanger themselves. Most of the ones that came through were from the fourth and the very few survivors of the third.

The fourth shinigami started to set up a triage in the court yard but they were over ruled by Rangiku who had opened the gate to Urahara's store and started to pass the wounded and the medics down to the real world. He knew that she didn't have authorization to do that but this wasn't a normal situation either.

He looked down a long boulevard that lead over to the central offices and spied a column of hollows advancing against nothing. He leveled Tekken and released a torrent of directed lighting tearing the group apart and sending the remaining hollows running back in the direction they came from. He felt Rangiku augment his strength after the blast and he sent her a thank you return of spirit energy. She joined him moments later.

"Are they that close?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, but that was only the beginning of them. How did the second squad miss this large of a build up?" He wondered out loud.

"It had to be Aizen. That bastard has the ability to hypnotize anyone that sees his zanpakutō. He must have intercepted the scouts and hypnotized them into not seeing what he had built up." Rangiku was now so furious that she was shaking. Of all the shinigami in Soul Society I think that you are the only one that has not been affected by that bastard. Even Ichigo has been affected."

"I've never seen Aizen before, and honestly I don't care to, but if what you say is true then maybe if I can get close to him I can eliminate the source of all the arrancar. That should bring things back to stable, shouldn't it? The only way he could defeat me is if I look at his zanpakutō, right?" Kira asked not exactly sure that this would work. "Look at my armor Rangiku. There are no eye slits for me to look out of for him to hypnotize me with. The surface is a perfect mirror making that sort of attack useless. He would be placing himself under his own spell. Besides I've gotten a lot better at attack spells now and anything he can throw at me I can handle."

"And you think that I'm going to let the father of our child walk into the mouth of hell without me?" He could see the anger on her face.

"I'm sorry darling. I was just trying to figure out how to end this battle without losing the war in one day. Our son is already through the gate, right? Rukia and Ichigo will look after him until we come and get him, together. Excuse me a moment." He turned and slashed a curtain of lighting across the sky enveloping four flying hollows destroying them in a flash.

"How did you know they were there? You have already told me that you can't see out of that armor, yet you pinpointed four moving targets at long range and eliminated them." Her mouth was open in shock.

"I can see them in my mind when I'm on bankai. I just know where everything is. I've told you this before." Just then his arm whips out with tekken and blasts another prowling hollow. "It's not like I'm omniscient, I'm still me. I just know what is moving around and what is within view, even if it is behind me."

Just then a storm front formed packed full of rain and lightning and started moving towards the advancing hollow hoard. "Looks like Jūshirō just went bankai. Maybe I should join him and use his power to augment my own and see if we can stem this invasion. It isn't as tiring if I use someone else's electrical discharges to power my blasts. You remember when Soi Fon hit me with her shunkō? I felt great after that. I seemed to draw a little of the power into me as I redirected the blast. Please let me go and help at the front."

"Ok, go and do what you can. Just don't get yourself killed or I'll murder you. If you decide to go after Aizen wait for me. I want to be with you when you tear him apart."

Kira pushed his helm back and looked into his wife's face. "I promise you that I wouldn't have it any other way." He leaned into the busty blond and kissed her before leaping away in the direction of Jūshirō.

Jūshirō was not in a good mood as the howling of the wind and driving rain could mirror his soul at that moment. He glanced to his right as Kira slammed into the ground near him and pushed back his helm. "Yo buddy, Want to serve up some of that lightning you're creating? I got some customers that are begging for a whole heaping helping of it. And while you're at it ask Soi Fon to join us I can use her shunkō also." Kira was smiling as he was asking to be hit with lightning.

"Just get yourself into position and I'll give you what ever you need Kira." Jūshirō said as his face started to lighten. He could create a storm that could wipe away half of the court of pure soles but he had little control over the destructive forces of that storm. It seemed to him that Kira could at least direct part of that power so he concentrated on forcing that power onto him.

Lighting crashed down enveloping Kira causing the area to be bathed in the light of a new star. He jumped up to the top of one of the buildings near the front and could see the massing hollows. He leveled Tekken at the advancing hoard and delivered a continuous blast that consumed everything it touched, Hollows, Arrancar, buildings, everything.

Soi Fon received the runner and pulled out of her position as a sweep of lightning erased all that stood before her. She shunpo'd over to where Jūshirō was standing and concentrating on forcing the lightning of his storm into Kira and she understood. She called up her shunkō and directed it into Kira who absorbed it like a greedy child.

Kira was feeling like he had more power than god at that moment but he remembered what Rangiku said and settled down to eliminating the threat. He swept back and forth across the battle ground eliminating the main threat pushing the hollows that survived by virtue of being missed back to where they had emerged in the first place.

**Sōsuke Aizen **was furious. What has started out as the perfect plan was now falling apart before his eyes. His minions weren't being eliminated by ones and twos, they were being eliminated by the scores. It wasn't a combination of shinigami it was one shinigami that was obliterating his army. "Who is that? I don't recognize the reiatsu of this one." He decided to take matters into his own hand and flash stepped to a roof top not far from Kira. He watched as the lighting from Jūshirō's storm crashed down apon him and the shunkō from Soi Fon enveloped him and all of it seemed to be drawn into his body and released through the massive battle blade he wielded. He smirked to himself as he watched and then flashed away.

Soi Fon felt him near and dipped aside as the blade sliced at her. She felt it rip through her shoulder causing her concentration to shatter as she started to lose consciousness.

Aizen then flashed to where Jūshirō was standing and attempted to repeat the manuver but Jūshirō was ready for him. This still broke his concentration enough that the lighting resumed its random strikes. Suddenly Jūshirō's sickness caught up with him causing him to double over in a coughing fit with blood spattering the ground before him. Satisfied that the source of his power was now eliminated, Aizen jumped to the roof top where Kira was standing.

"You must be Aizen the traitor. What brings you to me?" Asked Kira while he sent a portion of his reiatsu to Rangiku and received a return that she was on her way to him.

"I felt that I needed to discover who or what was turning my plan into dust. Now I know your secret and I can eliminate you once and for all. This may seem a little harsh but I'm going to kill you now." Aizen drew his zanpakutō and flashed it around calling forth its power to hypnotize, but something was wrong.

Kira started to laugh at the traitor. "You really think that you could just flash that thing in my face and get me to see and feel what you want me to? Get real you moron. I'm going to send you back to hell where you belong."

Rangiku was now near enough that she could see Kira and she felt the power that was radiating off from him. She couldn't imagine how anyone could be standing up before that power. "Here my love have a bit more to add to your strength." She whispered.

She sent her strength to him and received an answering from him which built the power between them rapidly.

At that moment Aizen knew fear. He had never known what fear was until he faced this man. Here was someone that ignored his most powerful enchantment with ease and who's power seemed to grow exponentially with now reason. He called down Hadou # 90 and enveloped Kira in the black coffin this exploded as Kira released a bit of his pent up energy shattering the coffin and wounding Aizen in the process.

"I've seen enough of your petty parlor tricks and I'm done with you now you bastard. Say good bye and repent your sins because the next thing that happens is your death." Kira pointed a finger at Aizen's zanpakutō and a blast of lightning erupted consuming the weapon and obliterating it along with Aizen's power. Aizen lost his arm in the blast but not his life yet. Kira strode up to the broken former shinigami captain and was about to remove his head when he felt Rangiku's hand on his own.

"No, not yet. He is broken beyond repair now and is no threat to anyone. He will face judgment for his crimes first. Let's turn him over to Soi Fon and Jūshirō. They won't allow him to escape and then let's clean up his followers."

Kira's armored fingers closed on the collar of the broken ex-shinigami and he jumped down to where Jūshirō and Soi Fon were standing. He dropped Aizen on the ground at their feet like he would drop a bag of garbage. "Sir, Mam, Please take care of this trash until we clean up the rest of the garbage." Kira turned away from them and walked towards the fighting with Rangiku at his side holding his hand.

Jūshirō looked at the shattered form and felt like kicking him until he stopped breathing but restrained himself placing him under a Bakudou 99 to prevent him from moving. Then he returned to healing Soi Fon's shoulder. "That man just saved us all you know." He said to Soi Fon.

"Yes, I know. I'm glad he came into our lives. Between him and Ichigo they have forced many changes to occur that have been a benefit to us."

The two remaining traitors suffered a similar fate to their leader and were captured and handed over to other captains for trial. The remaining arrancar and hollows slipped back into Hueco Mundo to await the coming of the shinigami.


	9. Epilog

**Epilog:**

The fighting had died down and the remaining trapped hollows had been purified. All that remained was to take the prisoners to their prison cells to await trial and execution.

The rebuilding would take some time and would be extensive as most of the buildings in the north-eastern quadrant had been smashed beyond recognition. Funeral pyres were seen for days and the third squad was officially retired as there were only three survivors and they were all non-seated shinigami.

The captains had met to consider what they needed to do to restore their power base now that they had been so severely weakened. Some called for the disbanding of the fourteenth and retaking their shinigami to partially rebuild their strength. This was vetoed by Yamamoto himself because that job was vital to protection of the real world, and he knew it. Shunsui Kyōraku and Jûshirô Ukitake jointly suggested the stepped up recruitment of shinigami from the Rukongai districts. There were sure to be plenty of new faces their after this recent attack and the thousands of purified hollows. They were sure that many of those soles would have plenty of spiritual energy and would love to get back their honor. Unohana, Kuchiki, Tenaka, Kurosaki, Abarai, Hitsugaya, Soi Fon, and Kenpachi liked the idea and fell in with them. Mayuri Kurotsuchi who truly hated anyone and anything to do with the fourteenth would not take part. Sajin Komamura said that he would go along with any plan approved by Yamamoto. Shūhei Hisagi had been excluded from the meeting due to the nature of the discussion. Yamamoto felt that he needed to gain a little more experience before allowing him into discussions of this level. He was briefed on the discussions though and whole heartedly agreed with the plan that was approved.

Rebuilding fell mostly to the shinigami of the fourth and hired contractors from the Rukongai. There were thousands of workers rebuilding the destroyed sections of Sereitei. With the rebuilding many of the infrastructure improvements that had been asked for came to happen. The reliance on mystical means of lighting came to an end as an actual solar generation system was installed. This was placed into the hands of the fourth over the screams of Mayuri. The rebuilding went surprisingly fast considering the destruction. The completion date had been totally blown away by the crews from the Rukongai. They wanted to prove to the shinigami that they were as capable as any shinigami. The bonus pay didn't hurt either. Several permanent contracts were drawn up creating a civilian workforce within the Sereitei. This left the fourth to concentrate on becoming the medical wing without having to take on the added responsibilities of cleaning, supply, and general pick-up crew. Their new hospital was also one of the prides of the civilian contractors. It was placed near the eastern gate and was open to all, shinigami and civilian alike. It was christened with the name **Izuru Kira Medical Center** in honor of the fallen vice captain who defended the survivors of his slaughtered squad.

Yachiru forgave Kenpachi for making her go to the fourteenth. She also made friends with the tiny Arrancar Nell. They could be seen running all over Sereitei when there was nothing to do in the eleventh for Yachiru, which was most of the time. They were fast friends and even Kenpachi smiled as he watched the two go blazing past the eleventh. He made it a point to visit Mayuri and remind him that he was to keep his hands off Nell like Ichigo said on more than one occasion. This upset the twelfth squad captain to no end.

Soi Fon finally broke down and accepted a marriage proposal from Ren Davis and they set a date. Rangiku needled Soi Fon mercilessly at captains meetings. On their wedding day Nell and Yachiru acted as flower girl and ring barer. The crowd for the wedding was so large that they had to move it to the execution grounds. Renji made the mistake of saying that it felt appropriate to hold a wedding there and was promptly beaten to a pulp by the gathered female shinigami. Ichigo just smirked at him. "Your day is coming Renji." Then Tatsuki (who got special permission to be there as Renji's date) promptly kicked him again.

The trials of the captured traitors were short and swift. The method of execution though was unlike any that had ever happened before. Their bodies were encased in deathstone and they were left to rot inside the Shrine of Penitence. No screams or whimpers could be heard. One hundred and eighty days later their rotted carcasses were hauled out and delivered to Hueco Mondo as a warning.

Official talks were opened with the Vizard. They were accepted back into the fold of the shinigami if they chose to. Some did and some chose to continue as they were. The major change was the recognition of their worth as allies.

Rangiku and Kira maintained their positions as Captain and Vice Captain of the Soul Society contingent of the Fourteenth division and they continued to raise their little girl, Sophia. Their work load had diminished somewhat as the number of hollow attacks had diminished drastically. Kira took a teaching position with the academy to fill up his time. He taught advanced weapons tactics.

The fourteenth was also experiencing another phenomena as the birth rate among shinigami skyrocketed. Unohana just laughed behind her hand as Rangiku attempted to explain why the number of birth related leaves was so high in the division. No one ever expected to have to explain the birds and the bees to the Commander General. Unohana stepped in to save Rangiku saying that it was planning for the future as there would always be a need for shinigami. She herself was almost four months pregnant with Isshin Kurosaki's child and had been entertaining his marriage proposals much to the delight of his other children.

**Thus endith the story of the Marine who became a shinigami. I hope you all enjoyed this and I'll continue along with Soi Fon and Ren and as many other stories as I can pull out of the dregs of my twisted mind. Again Thank you all for reading and especially those that took the time to review.**


End file.
